1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction of a deck plate with a head drum of a tape recorder being mounted thereon, and more particularly, to a construction of a moving deck plate for a camcorder having a sub-chassis slidably moving with respect to a main chassis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a video tape recorder integrated with a camera is called a camcorder or a video tape recorder such as a VCR. Such a video tape recorder integrated with a camera includes a head drum assembly 20 rotating around a main chassis 11 of a deck 10 at high speed, as shown in FIG. 1, to record/reproduce information on/from a traveling magnetic tape by scanning a magnetic head. FIG. 1 shows a major part of a running deck of a typical camcorder, in which the head drum assembly 20 is slantingly positioned on the main chassis 11, with the head drum assembly 20 being seated on a drum base 30.
The above construction causes stable running of the magnetic tape by use of the head drum assembly 20 of a helical-scan type. The drum base 30 includes a ring-shaped base member 31, and a pair of stationary guide rails 33a and 33b each being integrally located on both sides of the ring-shaped base member 31. The drum base 30 is manufactured by a separate process (like, for example, a die casting), separately from the main chassis 11 and the head drum assembly 20.
The stationary guide rails 33a and 33b form a moving path, along which a pair of pole bases 13a and 13b move in cooperation with a pair of movable guide rails 12a and 12b. The movable guide rails 12a and 12b are provided at a front end of a sub-chassis 12. When the sub-chassis 12 is slidably moved toward the head drum assembly 20 during a loading of a tape cassette (not shown), the movable guide rails 12a and 12b are docked to the stationary guide rails 33a and 33b, respectively. Here, the pair of pole bases 13a and 13b draw the magnetic tape (not shown) from the tape cassette, and then move along the movable guide rails 12a and 12b and the stationary guide rails 33a and 33b. Thus, the magnetic tape is closely contacted to the head drum assembly 20 with the magnetic tape being wound on an outer circumference of the head drum assembly 20 by a half turn.
Manufacturers of the above video tape recorder (camcorder) are mainly interested in a reduction of its number of parts and a manufacturing cost, an increase in productivity of its automation and assemblability, and improvement of its performance. In light of this trend, the construction of the head drum mounted deck plate for the conventional camcorder described above has the following drawbacks in manufacturing.
First, since the drum base 30 is manufactured as a separate component through a precision process, and since fasteners such as a screw or supporting piece are required for the connection of the components, the number of components and processes increases, thereby increasing product price. Secondly, since the head drum 20 is assembled to the drum base 30 to mount on the main chassis 11 as a sub-assembly state, processes of supplying and handling components are increased, thereby increasing manufacturing lead time and decreasing productivity. Finally, since the main chassis 11, head drum 20 and drum base 30 are manufactured and assembled as a separate component, quality control and automation becomes complex, thereby obstructing the improvement of performance and precision.